The Threat Against Darius’ Life
When we last saw our hero Darius, he was striding from the battlefield wearing only his birthday suit. After narrowly escaping being arrested and sent to the stocks for public indecency, he arrived home and retired to his chambers.
On his windowsill was a bedraggled carrier pigeon. In his claws, he held a missive for Darius. “BEWARE, DARIUS,” it read. “The enemy has contracted 1 million assassins to kill you!” Now, Darius is not a weenie, but a million assassins sounded like a bit much. “I need bodyguards…” he pondered.
After putting on his clothes, Darius wandered down to the village and took a look at the notices posted at the well. One flyer caught his eye. “Hmmmm… ‘Mercenary Guardians.’ Those sound fantastic!” He immediately sent the poor carrier pigeon back on his way with a request for an entire team.
Darius is Ambushed
Darius’ bodyguard team arrived en masse two days later. The timing was fantastic because he really needed to go shopping in the village and replace his clothing he had burned. As Darius and his new team of Mercenary Guardians journeyed to the marketplace, he felt the hair rising on the back of his neck… suddenly! Pouring out of the nearby stables came the assassins!
The first wave hit and Darius’ Mercenary Guardians missed the entire thing, as they were purchasing fruit tarts from the stall of the adorable farmers daughter.
As Darius reeled from the attack, he shouted “OY! Get over here, you useless gits!” The Mercenaries dropped their tarts and came running, taking up defensive positions at the front line. As the second wave hit, Darius thought smugly to himself “Now they all perish!”
As the battle cleared, Darius looked around, slightly stunned. Half of his Mercenary Guardians lay dead on the ground. However, fewer of his traps were broken. The assassins converged for another strike. In an effort to help protect the Mercenaries, Darius built Tier 1 Traps. After the dust settled, less Mercenaries died, and as expected the Tier 1 Traps were destroyed in a higher number.

As the assassins gathered their forces to attack again, Darius retreated to the Castle. After cleaning his wounds, he sat by the candlelight and pondered how to put his bodyguards to better use next time. Perhaps next time, he would use his cores again…